Flooding and the National Trust experience

Conservation Charity founded 1895:
Flooding – the National
Trust Experience
The National Trust shall be established
for the purpose of promoting the
permanent preservation for the benefit
of the nation of lands and tenements
(including buildings) of beauty or
historic interest and as regards lands for
the preservation (so far as is
practicable) of their natural aspect,
features and animal and plant life.
Katy Lithgow, Head Conservator
Cockermouth, Cumbria:
19 November 2009
Section 4.1 National Trust Act, 1907
National Trust
Definition of Conservation
•  247,000 hectares land
•  742 miles (20% of nation’s) coastline
•  350 pay-for-entry houses, gardens,
monuments
•  Nearly 1 million objects plus architectural
surfaces, fixtures and fittings
•  C.150 accredited museums (1 in 10 of UK
museums)
•  C.5.5k staff
•  60k+ volunteers
•  4.1 million members
•  20 million visits to pay for entry properties
‘the careful management of change. It is about revealing
and sharing the significance of places and ensuring that
their special qualities are protected, enhanced, enjoyed
and understood by present and future generations’
Insurance claims and Nos of severe weather
impacts on NT properties since 2001
£1,200,000
120
£1,000,000
100
£800,000
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80
60
Count
£400,000
40
£200,000
20
1993 Flash and fluvial flooding Buscot
2000 Hurricane
2001 Tidal and flash flood Westbury Court Gardens
2001, 2004, 2007, 2008 Flash flood Blickling, rain penetration at Coughton
Court
Total
£600,000
Increasing storminess over 3
decades: impacts on houses
.
1987 Hurricane
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2004, 2007 Flash flood Boscastle
2006, 2007 Tidal surge Elizabethan House Museum, Great Yarmouth
2007 Flash flood Calke Abbey, The Vyne, Coughton Court
2007 Flash and fluvial flood Buscot and Coleshill
2007 rain penetration Ham, Hughenden, Packwood, Knole etc.
2008 Flash flood Cragside
2009 Flash flood Lake District
2010 freezing Dunham Massey, Powis, Castle Coole, Anglesey, Blickling,
Wimpole and 20 other properties + cottages
•  2010 rain penetration – Waddesdon
0
£0
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
1
Increasing storminess over 3
decades: impacts on houses
.
•  2011 freezing The Argory and 31 other properties + cottages
•  2011 rain penetration – Ickworth
•  2012 rain penetration – Sizergh, Nostell, + 16 other properties in the
Midlands & the North
•  Winter Xmas 2013 – Feb 14: rainstorms – minor leaks at 15
properties, Knole, Polesden, Sutton House, Dunster, Montacute, Tredegar, Dyffryn,
Cotehele, The Vyne, Hatchlands, Ham, Hinton Ampner, Winchester City Mill, Killerton, A La
Ronde; major
flooding in the landscape (e.g. Runnymede, Wey Navigation,
Somerset Levels); severe coastal erosion Abereiddi, Birling Gap, Mullion Harbour,
Formby, Brownsea Island, Rhossili and South Gower Coast, Murlough (NI), Blakeney, S Milton
Sands, Studland Beach
•  2014 heavy rain - 8 houses June to Sept esp July (Melford, Vyne, Coughton) and
August (Springhill, Sizergh, Ham) plus Wandsworth Road and Tyntesfield.
Direct Physical forces - Accelerated
Coastal Erosion Mapping Risks to NT coast
over next 100 years
Flooding Impacts on historic
houses, interiors and collections
Preventive
conservation – risk
based approach
based on 10
Agents of
Deterioration (CCI)
Catastrophic
1.  Direct Physical Forces
2.  Thieves, vandals & displacers
3.  Dissociation
4.  Fire
5.  Water
Cumulative
6.  Pests
7.  Contaminants
8.  Radiation
9.  Incorrect Temperature
10. Incorrect Relative Humidity
Direct Physical Forces:
Accelerated Coastal
Erosion - Birling Gap
60% coast at risk from
erosion (169 sites)
4040ha at risk from
flooding (126 sites)
33 further sites could
be at risk from tidal
and river flooding
Birling Gap February 2014: before
Birling Gap
Birling Gap February 2014: after
2
Direct
Physical
Forces:
Flash
Flooding
Boscastle
16 August
2004
Wordsworth House, Cockermouth,
Cumbria: 19 November 2009
Direct Physical forces from Flash flood
Impacts of flooding on historic
houses, interiors and collections
Catastrophic
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
Direct Physical Forces
Thieves, vandals etc
Dissociation
Fire
Water
Cumulative
6.  Insect Pests
7.  Contaminants
8.  Radiation
9.  Incorrect Temperature
10.  Incorrect Relative Humidity
Aesthetic, evidential
and structural
damage
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Salt efflorescence
Dirt deposition and
staining
Mould
Corrosion
Swelling
Shrinkage and cracking
Synergy
Water - Flash flooding – Calke Abbey,
Friday 15 June 2007
Water Resource Risk Assessment
Haycock Associates Limited
•  75% of UK
freshwater
originates in the
uplands
•  43% of the land
area of England
and Wales drains to
the boundary of an
NT property
Physical damage and Contaminants
3
Water - Flash Flooding
Blickling, Basement
•  September 2001
•  (and again Aug 2004)
•  (and again June 2007)
•  (and again Sept 2008)
Water - Flash Flooding – Blickling
Hall, Norfolk 2001
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Insect Pests – Death watch beetle, Blickling Hall
Contaminants - Hardwick, High
Great Chamber, Jan 2014
Incorrect Temperature:
Jan-Feb 2010 –
Freezing and thawing
4
Dec 2010 coldest month
for 120 yrs – The Argory
Synergy – water,
incorrect T,
incorrect RH
Incorrect
Relative
Humidity:
Mould
Adaptation –Short Term
emergency planning
Sizergh Castle
28 June 2012
Adaptation –
Medium Term
5
Learn from resilience of
historic building materials
when refurbishing
buildings to make them
flood resilient
Adaptation - Long Term
Major cyclical repair –
increasing frequency?
Making space
for water:
Defences and Making
space for water –
in the building
The Vyne, flash flood
Friday 20 July 2007
Survey historic
drainage around
buildings and
ensure it is
maintained
e.g. culverts
6
Principle 3 Change Case
Study
Principle 3 Change Case
Study
Somerset Levels –
flooding Feb 2014
Dredging the
Somerset Levels
2014
7
Holnicote Estate
Catchment Change
Management Project
November 2014 –
Despite dredging
Somerset Levels filling
up again
Water catchment
management, Holnicote
Estate
Conclusions
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/
article-1356397754013/
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Work at landscape scale to manage water from source to sea
Make space for water
Waste less water
Tackle pollution at source
Waterproof homes and businesses
Storms reveal as well as
destroy: Borth Forest
800k year old Footprints
Storms
reveal
at Happisburgh,
Norfolk
as well as
destroy
Packwood Ice Hedge March 2013
8
Really large scale impacts:
Hurricane Katrina 29 August 2005
Hurricane Katrina,
New Orleans,
Louisiana,
29 August 2005
9